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Tonya Payne
Background * D * Elected to Pittsburgh's city council after beating Sala Udin in the May, 2005 primary and an easy win in the November 2005 general election. * Was the leader of the D party in Pittsburgh and had a seat on the PA D party committee. * Lost an uphill battle in the D primary against Daniel Lavelle in 2009 even though she was the endorsed D candidate. * Mounted a write-in campaign in the fall 2009 election, and lost by a large margin. * To run in 2010 in D party for PA House of Represenatives against Jake Wheatley Links Media * Payne is surprised at casino backlash November 22, 2006, by Ervin Dyer, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette -- Claiming no one has been more surprised at the rising wave of opposition to the Isle of Capri casino plan than she has, city Councilwoman Tonya Payne says neither she nor her office has spoken with anyone voicing concern. 'The people out there yelling the loudest are not calling me,' she said yesterday. 'If there are voices out there against the plan, those voices can work with me. But they've never said anything to me. Insights Failed to show at candidate night Payne removed from party post, December 4, 2009 : By Chris Potter, Pittsburgh City Paper No doubt readers of this space have been wondering for weeks now: "What happened to Tonya Payne and the effort to remove her from her post chairing the Democratic Party's city committee?" Well, wonder no longer. Jim Burn, who chairs the county committee, has stripped Payne of the chair, and removed her from the state committee as well. "Tonya is a friend," Burn told me, sadly. "I hate doing this no matter who is involved, but this stings even more." Payne was accused of trying to engineer a write-in campaign after losing the Democratic primary to Daniel Lavelle. That would have meant that Payne, despite being a party officer, was trying to thwart the party's own nominee. Burn notifed Payne of his decision in a Dec. 1, 2009 letter. "As a Party we have an obligation to honor the choices made by the Democratic voters we represent," the letter read in part. "Once the voters ... decide in the primary who the Nominee is going to be, it is our responsibility to honor their choices even if we personally do not agree with them. If members of this Committee, especially its leaders, can not follow the most fundamental tenet of our charter, then they should not be in this organization." Burn says that Payne denied having any direct role in the write-in campaign. But he says he was directed to a pro-Payne Facebook page (referenced in this blog post over at Progress Pittsburgh). That page, Burn wrote to Payne, "lists you as the Adminstrator/Creator of a page which advocates your write-in campaign and which also offers instructions on how to do a write-in campaign. "What makes this situation worse in my opinion is that ... you denied any direct involvement when I asked you about this," Burn wrote. Payne can appeal Burn's decision to the state committee's Executive Board. But for now, Burn says, she has been removed from the chair, and the state committee -- the two positions he appointed her to. As for who takes the chair now, that turns out to be a bit of a murky question -- like almost everything else touching upon the local party apparatus. The city committee's vice-chair is Ed Gainey, and it's possible he will fill out the remainder of Payne's term until another round of party elections next year. That's how it would work if Burn were removed from his county position, anyway. But rules at the city committee are a little looser, and Burn says he's "going to talk to the city committee officers. Do they want the vice-chair to finish out the term, or do they want to elect another chair -- or for me to appoint one -- on an interim basis? The city rules are diametrically opposed to those we have in the county, or in other municipalities." But even in Pittsburgh, it seems, some rules still apply. Payne Category:Candidate 2009 Category:Candidate 2010